This is not the end
by Bee88
Summary: Caroline looks out for Stefan while the others are away looking for a way to kill Klaus. Once Stefan is free from his compulsion Caroline takes him home and tries everything to get her best friend back.
1. Chapter 1

She parked her car in front of the town hall. It was long past midnight when she hurried towards the back entrance of the old city jail. When she had made sure that no one was watching her, she quickly unlocked the door and went inside.

She switched the old, rusty ceiling light on and walked down the spiral staircase. She hated this place, it always reminded her of the time when her father had locked her up down here to "free" her from her vampire aspects.

She always got shivers when she stood in front of the old iron door.

But she had offered to do this, she had offered to help Stefan, because she had never forgotten how he had helped her when she was turned by Katherine.

Elena, Damon and Bonnie were out of town, trying to find a way to kill Klaus. They have been gone for two weeks now and she had hardly heard from them. According to Damon Bonnie had been able to decipher the runes in the old cave and now they were trying to solve the riddle of the runes. Apparently it was about another dagger, one that would be deadly only on hybrids.

While the others were driving from place to place looking for it, Caroline had agreed to stay behind to take care of Stefan. At first Elena had refused to leave town, but Damon and the others had made it clear that it was too dangerous for a human to be alone with Stefan. And besides they needed her to lure Klaus to them, once they had found the weapon.

Caroline snapped out of the memory and pushed the door open to Stefan's cell.

He was still bound to the old chair. After Lexi had stripped away his bloodlust Damon allowed him only one bloodbag per day. At first a mix of human and animal blood, later pure human blood. "He really needs to control it, it can't always control him or he'll again end up in a situation like this before he can even say "blood"," Damon argued. So now it was Caroline who walked down the cellar once a day, or rather once a night, to bring him a blood bag. It was just enough to keep him conscious, he was weak and therefore no danger anymore. His ripper side was mostly buried deep down again, but so were his feelings. Usually he just sat there, staring blankly ahead, not saying anything. At first she had been glad that he had stopped it with the snarky comments but after two weeks of this silent treatment she wasn't so sure anymore of what she preferred. Like Elena had said, he was just like a ghost.

"He Stef, brought you some blood", she said, trying to sound cheerful.

He looked up at her, no emotion visible on his face.

"Ok so you're still not talking to me? Fine!", she opened the blood bag and held it to his face.

He started drinking immediately, gulping down the blood in a few seconds. He looked a bit better now, but it wasn't enough to really fill his hunger. They wounds that Lexi had caused him had only barley healed, it was saver to keep him weak.

She stared at him for a few moments, stared into his lifeless eyes, the ones who had once contained so much love, so much happiness.

she remembered how he had held her in his arms after she had been turned. Everything had been so overwhelming and she had thought that she was going to lose it. But he had been there, holding her in his arms, not letting her fall apart. He had looked her in the eyes, promised her to always be there for here.

It made her so furious to think that all this was gone now. That she'd never get the old Stefan back if the others didn't find the dagger to kill Klaus.

She missed her best vampire friend so much.

"You know, you are such a liar, Stefan Salvatore. You promised me that you'd always take care for me, that you'd be there for me when I need you. And now you're just sitting there like... like a ghost. And every freaking day that I have to come here and see you, I remember what it was like between us. And I just don't get it, how could you throw it all away! ...you were never really my friend", with every sentence her voice became louder and louder, until she found herself screaming at him.

suddenly he looked her right into the eyes, "Oohh you're not my friend anymore, this makes me so sad Caroline", he sneered at her.

For a second she was shocked that he suddenly started talking to her again, but then it mad her even more furious.

"Yes this should indeed make you sad, I was one of your best friends. But I'm done with you, I'm done with this", she gestured at him, at the room, before she slapped him as hard as she could.

"You can rot in here for the next 500 years", she stormed out of the room, slammed the door behind her and with vampire speed ran away from it all.

He stared at the place where she had stood just moments ago. Something inside of him felt strange. It was almost like a little tugging pain in his chest, that had nothing to do with physical pain. For a moment he knew that what he had said was wrong, that he had upset her, that this wasn't how it should be between them. For a moment he wanted to jump up, run after her and tell her that he was sorry. But before he really knew it, it was gone and the only thing he felt was the slap of her hand, still burning on his cheek.

* * *

><p>I miss these two so much! They haven't had ONE real scene together this season :( I think that Caroline is the one who should help Stefan finding back to himself. About the dagger: I know that there is probably no such thing, but since we don't know yet how they are going to kill him, I just made this up. ;) Please bear with me, English is NOT my native language so it's possible that I use the wrong tenses, grammar or spelling.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

A few moments later she found herself near the Mystic Grill. She walked in and sat down at the bar.  
>"Hey Caroline, what can I get you?", the bartender asked with a smile.<br>"A whiskey, please. A strong one."  
>She had compelled him a little while ago to serve her anything she wanted without asking for an ID.<br>"Drinking during the week? Again?"  
>She spun around and saw Alaric walking towards her, also with a drink in his hand.<br>"Hi Ric, um you do realize that you are not really a role model here either?", she said with a smile, pointing at his scotch.  
>"Yeah i know.. this night just needs it", he said while sitting down on a stool next to her.<br>The bartender placed Caroline's whiskey in front of her and she clinked her glass with Alaric's.

"So how was it with Stefan tonight?"  
>"Ugh.. don't ask, he's the reason for this."<br>"Is he still ignoring you?"  
>"No, worse. He's back to the snarky comments."<br>"Maybe we should stab him again", Alaric suggested, half joking, half serious.  
>"I slapped him really hard and I'm sure it hurt him quite a bit,"she paused for a moment.<br>"Its so hard to be around him. I know that the Stefan we love is in there but some days I wonder if we're not wasting our time.  
>What if the others can't kill Klaus?"<br>"I know what you mean... but you should never forget that he would have done the same for you!"  
>She nodded, finishing her whiskey.<br>"I think I should go home. God I wish I didn't have to go down there tomorrow.."  
>"Do you want me to go?", he asked.<br>"No, no its fine. Goodnight Ric."  
>"Good night, Caroline."<p>

She walked home with her hands in the pockets of her jeans. It was a cold and starless night.  
>She couldn't help wondering how everything just could've gotten so out of hand.<br>She missed him so desperately. She missed hunting with him. She missed his late night visits. She missed sitting on the roof of her house with him.  
>She missed their serious talks as much as she missed messing around with him.<p>

He often told her stuff he couldn't tell Elena, because she was a human and couldn't understand.  
>And she also knew that he was the only one who really knew what she was going through.<br>But now this was all in the past. A single tear rolled down her cheek.  
>Life sucked so much.<p>

The following night she went down to his cell again.  
>She had tried to call Damon, she really needed to know if there was any progress, but her calls had gone straight to voice mail. She didn't know if this meant that things were going good or not.<br>Now she was standing in front of Stefan's cell. She could spot him through the little window in the door. His figure was slumped in the seat, his head hanging down low. She felt so sorry for him and at the same time she was incredibly angry at him. Why didn't he fight for his humanity? Why was Klaus's compulsion stronger than his love for Elena, stronger than his friendship with her? She angrily pushed the door open and walked towards him.  
>"Didn't expect to see you again so soon... or are the 500 years already over?"he murmured without looking at her.<br>"I promised your brother I'd take care of you", she answered, trying to sound casual, and got the blood bag for him out of her bag.  
>"Aah so this is the only reason you're down here..."<br>"Drink this and I can go", she ordered.  
>She held the blood bag at him."I can tell that you still hope to get your old friend back.. but I have to crush your hopes, he's gone for good", he stared up at her with a cold and emotionless expression.<br>"Stop saying that", her left hand shot at his throat, pressing him against the back of the chair. Her face started vamping out, the veins under her eyes became prominent and her fangs started to grow.  
>"I know that the real you is in there and I'm not gonna give up until he is back".<br>"You know...", he said slowly, struggling against her hold, "you've really become as pathetic as Elena".  
>She growled at him and tightened her grip. "I'm not pathetic! I'm your goddamn friend Stefan and this what friends do for each other," She finally let go of his throat.<br>"But since you've been such a bad friend to me tonight... no blood for you" and with that she smashed the blood bag against a wall.  
>"Am I supposed to be impressed by this?", he asked in a raspy voice.<br>"Shut up you heartless bastard. I'm sick of listening to this crap coming out of your mouth!" she yelled at him and with one fast movement she grabbed a stake out of her bag and shoved it hard into his stomach. He let out a cry of agony.  
>"It can't even hurt you as much as I want it to", she spat at him.<br>"Arghh, what the hell", he groaned, his eyes closed in pain.  
>"It's a good thing it hurts. It's at least some kind of feeling!"<br>"Get it out" he growled at her.  
>"Mhmmhm", she said, walking around him, "I think we're going to let it stay in there for a while. It seems to stir something inside you"<br>"Pull the damn thing out or you're gonna to regret it!", his face began to vamp out.  
>"Oh really? Don't see how you could be any danger to me.. tied to this chair for as long as I want you to".<br>This made him even more furious "Let me go, Caroline! Let me go! I'm so sick of you, I wish I had never met you," he paused for a moment. "I wish I had let Damon kill you the night of the carnival!" This hurt her more than anything else he had said to her over the past two weeks. It felt as if a dagger had been pushed into _her_ heart now, not breaking it, but scratching at it again and again. She pulled his dagger out of his stomach but only to force it right back into him. He cried out in pain and bent over.  
>Lexi had told her that she had do keep hurting him, that this was the only way to help him. Yet it felt so wrong to her. She had never been so violent to anyone before, yet alone to a friend.<br>"Caroline", he whimpered lowly.  
>"Please don't do this to me".<br>It was the first time since he had been compelled that his voice sounded somewhat filled with emotion. It wasn't the same cocky tone or the harsh tone she had gotten used to. Still she knew that he wasn't completely himself yet. However it didn't fail to touch something inside of her. Immediately she felt bad for what she had done.  
>"Stefan, you know that I have to do this. I'm trying to help you" she replied.<br>"I don't want you help", he didn't sound angry, he sounded defeated. She looked down at him, and all she saw was a completely hopeless expression on his usually so beautiful face. He looked so broken.  
>"Can't you just let me go. Just leave me alone", he begged her.<br>She was shocked at this sudden turn, but it also gave her hope. He was feeling something. It wasn't much, but it was something she could cling to.  
>"No I can't do that. Stefan, I promised you that I wouldn't give up on you. Hey, we will get through this together", her voice was much softer now.<br>A single tear was rolling down his left cheek, more proof than anything else that she had finally gotten through to him. That there was a part of him that still cared, that still felt something. She just wasn't sure how long it would be there.

For a while non of them said a word. She had sat down on the floor, a meter away from him.  
>They were both lost in their own thoughts.<br>Then, after she realized that he wasn't going to say anything else to her, she got up and said:"It's late, I need to go home. I've got school tomorrow and well at least one of us should go there. I mean with Elena gone too. My mom is so going to freak out if she finds out how many days I've already skipped.." she was just rambling, something she often did when she was nervous.  
>"Well anyways.." she left the sentence unfinished but suddenly bent down to him and in one shift movement pulled the dagger out. She threw it across the room where it landed in a corner with a clattering sound. He gasped at the sudden movement and besides the pain she could see surprise in his eyes.<br>"I um.. see you tomorrow", she picked up her bag and went to the door.  
>"Wait.."<br>A small smile spread out on her face. Then she turned around, feigning nonchalance.  
>"Get home safe", he whispered, but it was loud enough for her to hear.<br>"Good night Stefan", she turned around once more and locked the door behind her.

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><p>Guys, thank you all for reading the first chapter! Can't believe how many people added this story to their story alert andor favorites :)

I'm not really sure what's going to happen in the next chapter. Should I let the others kill Klaus so Stefan can get his feelings back? Or do you think it's too soon for that?

PS: VD is on tonight *.* =) (the last episode before the hiatus *goes into her bed and cries*)


	3. Chapter 3

Later that night when she had showered and put on her pajama, she was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. It was completely quiet in the room, the only thing she could hear was the sound of raindrops hitting the roof. She felt terribly exhausted, not only from this day but from it all. It was so hard to always be the strong one.

She curled up in her bed and closed her eyes. Immediately Stefan's image came up. Last spring, when he had still been her friend, her mentor, seemed years away. She remembered that it had been a rainy night like this when he had come over at 1am. He had had a fight with Elena, he had wanted to give the human blood another try and she had been furious about it. It had been the day when her mum had shot him and Damon.

He had texted Caroline, asking if it was OK if he came over. She had been really surprised when his name had flashed up on her cell phone and she had wondered what he could possibly want at such a time of day and why he wasn't with Elena.

A few minutes later he had already come in through her window. She remembered how she had almost gotten a hard attack when she walked back from the bath into her room and he had been standing next to the window. A sad smile appeared on her face, back then he had taunted her that she was a lousy vampire if she didn't here him come in and in return she had just thrown a pillow at him and had told him to shut up.

Then she had sat down on her bed, leaning against the headboard and patting at the spot next to her. He had taken off his shoes and had plopped down next to her.

Then he had explained what had happened between Elena and him and that he didn't understand why she didn't want him to try human blood again.  
>"Sometimes I feel like she just can't understand me. No, I KNOW that she can't understand me - and don't get me wrong it isn't her fault..."<br>"But neither is it yours", Caroline told him, "but I think I know what you mean. I feel like no matter how much I explain it the others won't understand it.."  
>"because they don't know how it feels", he finished for her.<br>"Exactly", she smiled at him and he smiled back a little.

They had talked for over an hour and the longer he had been there the more comfortable they got around each other. Maybe it was because they could be completely themselves, there was nothing that had to be left out, nothing had to be glossed over. It felt so good to talk so openly with someone.

After a while they just sat there listening to the rain; they had switched off the light and now in present day she was lying here on her own staring into the darkness, imagining he was sitting next to her. Tears started rolling down her face. She missed him so much. And with her amplified vampire feelings it was even worse than it would have been for her as a human.

From that day on they had started to meet at night. When it was a school night and Elena wasn't sleeping at Stefan's place they often meet at night. Going for a stroll through the dark streets of Mystic Falls, or sitting on the roof of her house or occasionally they sat in her living room and watched movies when her mum was on duty.

They have had many serious talks but also fun times when she pursued him to play Wii sports with her. Or when he brought a bottle of bourbon over and they played 'never have I ever'. It was easy between. Their meetings at night became something she looked forward to everytime and she could tell that he enjoyed her company just as much. After a while she noticed that he was different around her, he seemed happier.

Before she noticed it she had fallen asleep.

She was dead tired when she woke up the next day. No wonder, she had only slept for around 5 hours. School passed by in a blur, she was really lucky to have Alaric as her teacher in the last lesson. Everyone else would've given her detention if she had been asleep for a whole lesson, but he just shot her a sympathetic look as she gathered her things at the end of class.

On the hallway she meet Bonnie who still had a lesson.

"Are you ok Caroline?", she also noticed how exhausted Caroline seemed.  
>"I'm just really tired. This whole thing with Stefan,.. its taking up a whole lot more energy than I thought. and on top I have .."<br>Bonnie cut her off:"I really don't get it why you guys still cling to him. Are you still in denial about what he has done this past summer? He has killed so many innocents!"  
>"What?" Caroline stopped in her tracks and stared at Bonnie in disbelieve.<br>"Seriously? You're telling me to give up on Stefan? Did you forget everything he has done for each of us? Did you forget that he saved your life Bonnie? God I can't believe this!", she yelled at Bonnie before she spun around on her heels storming to the parking lot.  
>"Care, wait i didn't mean it like that..."<br>But she was already gone.

It had started to rain and when she sat in her car fat drops poured down on the windshield. She was still mad at Bonnie. Of course she knew what Stefan had done, but she also knew that he hadn't done any of it because he had wanted to. He done it only to save his brother. He didn't have a goddamn choice! Why couldn't Bonnie see this? "Maybe because she isn't a vampire' a little voice said in her mind, "maybe because she doesn't know anything about the animalistic side of a vampire. Of the hunter.."  
>Yes, maybe this was it.<p>

She didn't really know where she should go. She didn't want to go home, her mother wasn't working today and she was sure she'd have to answer more questions about Stefan and besides she didn't feel like talking to anyone. For a moment she considered going to the boarding house, but without the others it felt abandoned. Before she realized where she was going she was already driving towards the town hall. She left the car and went down the jail. It hadn't stopped raining and her hair was wet when she finally managed to open the old lock.

It was completely silent downstairs and when she opened the door to Stefan's cell she saw that he was asleep or perhaps even unconscious due to the lack of blood. For a moment she stood right in front of him, staring down at his lifeless frame. She ached to touch him, to hug him. Once again she felt incredibly alone. It seemes that in the last few months she had lost everyone. Her dad, Bonnie and now also Stefan. Still there was Elena but since she had been turned it wasn't entirely the same between them anymore.

She sat down on the floor and leaned back on the wall. She had planned on doing some of her homework but now she just felt tired. For a moment she closed her eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.

He woke up again. He didn't know how much time had passed. His throat was aching for blood. He felt weak and exhausted, he wanted to sleep forever and get away from everything. But then again sleeping meant dreaming and because he was weakened, painful memories made their way into his mind and when he woke up he could still feel the pain for a few moments. And he didn't want this, he wanted to be free of guilt, free from all bad feelings. He needed blood. He wondered what time it was, he opened his eyes to check if it was already dark outside. That was when his eyes fell on the small figure in front of him. A blonde woman was sitting on the floor, cuddled in a big parka, apparently asleep.  
>What was she doing here? And why was she asleep on the floor?<p>

"Blondie, hey" he said trying to wake her. she woke up right away. She rubbed her eyes confused and then she remembered where she was.  
>Stefan was looking down on her, a curious look in his eyes.<br>"Whatcha doing here Blondie?", he asked again, this time sounding slightly annoyed.  
>"Don't call me that. That doesn't suit you," she slowly got up, her bones ached from the hard floor.<br>"So, how are you, _ripper_?'  
>He let out a cold laugh, "you are really not funny, Forbes."<br>"Look if you - once again - only want to mock me, then I'm gone. I've got better things to do with my time." she grabbed her bag ready to go, but before she had taken a step he told her to wait.  
>"I need some blood."<br>Great, so all he wanted was blood. It seemed his feelings had disappeared again.  
>"Well then lets hope I got some for you", she said with cocky smile.<br>"Give it to me Caroline. You know what you promised Damon".  
>"tz tz Stefan. All I hear from you is 'I want and 'give me' and not a single 'please' or 'thank you'. Hasn't your mom taught you any manners?"<br>"She is long dead".  
>"Yeah so what? No reason to forget some important lesson".<br>"Can you please just shut up?", he growled.  
>"Omg there it is! See it wasn't that hard to say "please"! she beamed at him and he only rolled his eyes, looking as annoyed as ever, though he had to give her credit for that.<br>"So let me see where I got it.. ah here", she got a bag of blood out of here bag. She walked back to him and with one swift movement broke the manacles on Stefan's arms.  
>"What..?", he was completely confused.<br>"I'm sick of feeding you like little child, help yourself", she threw the bag in his lap and sat back down on the floor where she drank from her own bag.  
>"I don't think that the others will approves of this", he said after two big gulps of blood.<br>"Oh well the others don't have to deal with you every freaking day, they don't know what a sucky job this is. So I think I have the right to make it a bit easier for myself", she said with a wink.  
>He was still confused, one second she was cold and distant, the next she smiled at him like in old times. This smile... he suddenly realized how happy it had always made him. In another life. He looked away from her and emptied his bag. He couldn't allow himself to indulge in old memories. They would show up in his dreams and mess with him, they would stir old feelings that he couldn't let back in.<br>So when his bag was empty he threw it on the floor and asked: "Can you go now?"  
>"Oh come on, why do you want me gone? do I keep you from work? I'm sorry, I really don't want to interfere with your tight schedule. I can see that you still have so much to do today: watch the light go from dim to dark, stare at all the little patterns on the wall, count to 5000 in Italian perhaps?", she grabbed the bloodbags and shoved them in her school bag.<br>He groaned "God have you always talked so much?"  
>"Don't pretend that you forgot our endless talks late at night on my roof." as she said this another memory came back to his mind.<br>He saw himself sitting next to her, their bodies slightly touching and each with a bottle of bourbon in their hands which he had stolen from Damon earlier.  
>Their laughter had filled the warm June night...<br>"Yeah I remember that. It already annoyed the hell out of me back then".  
>"Oh come on, this gets old. I know this isn't true and so do you. So stop lying to me"<br>"Alright alright. You got me."  
>"Thank you for your honesty' she shot him a stupid grin then turned around and walked to the door.<p>

he really didn't get it where this nice act was coming from and why she pulled it off.  
>She hesitated for a moment before she said something to him. She knew he was going to mock her for it but she needed to say it.<br>"You know I really miss that time. I miss these alcohol filled nights when you came to my place to simply get drunk during the week. And the next day we were both hungover in class and everytime I was about to fall asleep you would throw little paper balls at me. Everytime scaring the hell out of me. and then Mrs Toefield would give us both detention. But we never went there because you compelled her into thinking that we were the students who paid most attention..." she put her hands in her jeans pockets and awkwardly stared at his blood soaked shirt. She wondered how deep his wounds still were and if they hurt much.  
>"I wish I could make it all undone" <em>everything that had happened since klaus left<em>, she added in her thoughts.  
>"Why?"<br>"Uh what?", she hadn't realized what she had said out loud. It must've sounded like she meant the time with him.  
>"What happened since Damon got bitten by Taylor and you had to make that deal with Damon".<br>"Oh that..", he stared into her eyes and the slightest, sad smile appeared on his handsome face.  
>"I guess me too".<br>It broke her heart to hear this from him, to see the sad look in his eyes, but it also showed her that he rememberd the good times and that - even if he didn't want to admit it to himself - he missed that time.  
>"We could still always get drunk down here", she suggested with a nervous laugh. It sounded wrong.<br>"I don't see why you should waste more of your time down here. I mean its not like I'd be enjoying your company much. So for your own good you should find yourself a new drinking buddy".  
>"Oh yeah? And who would I choose. Lets see, perhaps Alaric? My history teacher? Or Bonnie who never drinks more than a beer for the whole night or Tyler the hybrid jerk who I just broke up with? Yeah wow so many to choose from!", her voice was filled with sarcasm.<br>"Well thats too bad for you.. - you broke up with Tyler?" he looked at her amused.  
>"It didn't work out between us"<br>"Was he such a disappointment in bed?"  
>She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "God Stefan, I really see now how you and Damon are brothers... I broke up with him because all he cares about now is Klaus and well he's a jerk.. again."<br>"I'd think you like jerks, considering how much time you spend down here".  
>She didn't really know what to say to that so she just opened the door and said a short goodbye.<br>"I'll come back soon to give you more blood, well that is if you don't start insulting me again"  
>"I wouldn't make any promises on that," he said seriously but with the tiniest wink.<br>"Fine than I won't promise you any blood. Bye Stefan".

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><p>the lamest of all lame updaters has finally updated her story! WOW!^^<p>

I'm really sorry guys! I know how much it sucks when you are waiting for a new chapter! I hope you liked it, though :)  
>A little less than 3 more weeks to go and VD is finally back! And then I want at least<strong> ONE<strong> Steroline scene!  
>I wish you all a merry Christmas in advance, enjoy the holidays with your loved ones :)<p> 


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